No pain, no gain?

I knew childbirth would be painful. I knew that some day my little boy may break my heart by running of with Suzi Someone who I could never think is good enough for him. Those newborn cries caused a stabbing pain in my stomach as I desperately bounced and rocked and soothed. What I wasn’t expecting was how much physical pain a cute little baby can cause.

At nearly 8 months, I have nail grooming pretty much under control, but endured months of scratching as I mustered up the courage to use the clippers; filing only helps so much. But now there is a whole new world of pain the Doodlebug can inflict: pinching, grabbing, head butting and hair pulling. Oh the hair pulling. At first he just tugged on the ends of my hair when nursing, wearing it back and then a trim solved that problem. Now, however, he is full on pulling: at the temples, the whole ponytail, yanking on loose hair. I am not sure when babies understand no. I untangle him and say no, but he giggle and pulls again. I was enduring it ok, but then he pulled someone else’s hair and I was a little embarrassed. I definitely got the “you can’t control your baby” vibe. I guess he will learn with time.

And yesterday we had our first nursing bite. It wasn’t the blinding pain I was expecting, so perhaps it was more of a nip than a bite, but it was worse than the hair pulling. And my husband just glibly stated, “Well, I guess that’s the end of nursing.” And, in a word, NO. The baby and I will work through this phase the same way we worked through him falling asleep every time he nursed – with love and patience. And not too much pain, I hope.